Mustard gas was not around yet (or atleast not yet used in war)... Written
in 1899

Wes Rhodes from United States

Comment 39 of 450, added on February 3rd, 2010 at 2:22 AM.

I believe the yellow trench line refers to a man who stumbles in a trench
with mustard gas resting (gas gets as low to the ground as it can) and
gasping took his last breath and died this all would happen if he fell into
yellow mustard gas.

RJ from United States

Comment 38 of 450, added on January 10th, 2010 at 6:20 PM.

The tone clearly is sarcastic. Of course, ironic and paridoxical poetic
devices are employed as well throughout the piece by the poet, but his tone
is undoubtedly sarcastic.

Also, whoever said this poem could be interpreted as a satire is right. It
uses sarcasm and irony to deride a traditional belief of war (human folly).
Thus, it can be interpreted as satire.

Mr. C from Canada

Comment 37 of 450, added on December 4th, 2009 at 12:42 AM.

JEEZ...

Come on dude...the comment below... Stephen Crane's tone is sarcasm duh...
he does a great job describing how inglorious war really is by his
sarcastic tone... come on be intelligent...just read the poem over to see
what I mean...

Drake from United States

Comment 36 of 450, added on November 17th, 2009 at 2:12 PM.

crane really does a poor job of showing his feelings toward war. he says
"do not weep, war is kind", its telling the daughter dont cry, because
losing a family member or 2, or 3 is natural in war. but then reading the
rest of the poem strickly says war is tragic, frightful, and death is a
great fear.

Ryan Walters from United States

Comment 35 of 450, added on November 7th, 2009 at 5:19 PM.

Jake, my guess about the "gulped in the yellow trenches" line is that
Stephen Crane is talking about someone with an infection gasping for air.
Many soldiers would have yellow pus drained from their wounds constantly,
but eventually died from infections because the medical conditions were
horrifying.

Nschultz from United States

Comment 34 of 450, added on October 20th, 2009 at 5:28 PM.

This poem makes no sense. how he could be talking about war in a negative
way but mean the exact opposite? I know that metaphors and stuff do that
but this is a little extreme. he obviously is not talking about war in a
positive light.

Darcy from United States

Comment 33 of 450, added on May 19th, 2009 at 2:03 PM.

I agree with many that this poem uses satire to portray war. There is
certainly nothing glorious about war. Society often ignores how gruesome
war really is. If everybody in the world was a soldier at least once in
their life then I do not think we would settle as many conflicts through
war. However, war is necisary on some occasions to defend innocent lives
and the people willing to do that should be honored for how they really
died, not honored for some sugar coated story.

Blake from United States

Comment 32 of 450, added on March 15th, 2009 at 8:31 PM.

It would make sense if he was referring to WWI because of the mustard gas
and the trenches but Crane died in 1900 and WWI started 1914 so I'm not
sure what he's referring to. Anyone?

Tyler from United States

Comment 31 of 450, added on March 4th, 2009 at 12:38 PM.

"Do not weep, babe, for war is kind.
Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches,
Raged at his breast, gulped and died,
Do not weep.
War is kind."

Is this refering to the poison gases in the trenches of WWII like "yellow
trenches" is the smoke and "Raged at his breast, gulped and died" being the
father inhailing poison smoke

Do you have any comments, criticism, paraphrasis or analysis of this poem that you feel would assist other visitors in understanding this poem better? If they are accepted, they will be added to this page of American Poems. Together we can build a wealth of information, but it will take some discipline and determination.

Do not post questions, pleas for homework help or anything of the sort, as these types of comments will be removed. The proper place for questions is the poetry forum.

Please note that after you post a comment, it can take up to an hour before it is visible on the website! Rest assured that your comment is not lost, so don't enter your comment again.